Cass County to fill 200,000 sandbags ahead of potential spring flood

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Communities are looking ahead to when the snow starts to melt and rivers start to rise. Officials in Cass County met Monday morning to lay out their plans for flood season.

National Weather Service officials are anticipating this year’s flood to be similar to 2011, which had a crest of 38.6 at the Red River in Fargo-Moorhead. Although there are still a lot of unknowns, officials say years of flood fighting have area cities and counties well-prepared.

“We’re hearing a lot of scary things right now,” said Cass County Commissioner Chad Peterson. “Know that we are good at this. We are good at fighting floods. We grew up throwing sandbags, we’re getting better every year in terms of preparation and what we need to do.”

Sandbag filling will happen April 11-14 at the Cass County Highway Department, which is located at 1201 Main Avenue in West Fargo. A total of 200,000 sandbags will be filled; 100,000 for Cass County, 80,000 for Fargo, 5,000 for West Fargo and 15,000 for backup.

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